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A Lombard man who claimed to have a bomb plowed his Ford Escort into the lobby of the James R. Thompson Center on Wednesday, injuring no one but raising concern about the security of Chicago's prominent government buildings.
Donald R. Delgade, 37, drove across the Thompson Center plaza shortly before 8 a.m., crashing through a large plate glass window at the Randolph Street entrance to the expansive glass structure. The red car slammed into an unoccupied information desk, narrowly missing a 50-foot plunge into an open food court below.
Illinois Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka said she heard the crash from her 15th-floor office and, because the building features a large atrium, was able to see the driver being handcuffed and taken away.
"After Oklahoma you kind of think about the fact that if you work in a public building and you are a public servant, it could happen to you," she said.
"I don't know what kind of security you could put up short of blocking the building off from the rest of Chicago, though, and then you wouldn't have a public building," she said.
Delgade, of 644 N. East Broadway in Lombard, was immediately taken into custody and charged with criminal damage to government supported property, a felony offense.
As officers handcuffed the driver, Delgade said he had a bomb. No bomb was found on Delgade or in the building.
Later, Delgade told police he was a "smart bomb and that God told him to do this," said Wanda Taylor, spokeswoman for Gov. George Ryan's office, located in the Thompson Center.
"Apparently, he viewed the building as some sort of temple," Taylor said.
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